BUYING A CAR

Most of us don't buy cars on a regular basis. So when we do you are engaged in both a dance and a battle with the dealer. The dealer of course wants to sell you a car for the most that they can while trying to give you the least that they can for your trade in. You on the other hand are trying to get the new car for the lowest price while trying to get the most out of your trade in. To do this the dealer has his list price on the window. One comes from the manufacturer and there is always a side list of things the dealer adds on to up the price. You try to figure out what your car is worth by looking at different websites or books that tell you car values. Things like Blue Book. But there are others out there and each one has its own value. I got a new one yesterday ACV. What is ACV? The dealer claimed this was Average Cash Value or the value of your car at auction. Now we all know that dealers go to auctions to buy good cars at good value. So is ACV really a realistic value of your vehicle.? So we were doing the little dance. I knew the new vehicle Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price MSRP. The salesman after I asked said oh we only have a markup of $1100 dollars. I saw ok what is my car worth. The salesman said I will get you a range after one of our appraisers looks at the car. He came back with two numbers a thousand dollars apart. He said if you are serious about the car they will drive it and give you a real estimate. Why would I not want to know the value of my trade in? Then the salesman came back with a number which was at the high end of the prior range of numbers. I came in with a number in my head of what difference I wanted in this transaction. The difference is the only thing that is important. He could say we gave you a low price on the new car and a low price on the trade in or the reverse. How much I have to pay is the number I was looking for. In the end I came out quite a bit better on the difference number than I had hoped for. So I felt that my purchase was a good deal. I know that there are factory incentives that they get that they don't tell you about and don't show up anywhere that you can determine. I also know they will sell my trade in for more than they gave me for it. This is how they stay in business. In the end my wife went home with a new VW Beetle. Tornado Red was her color of choice. Gone is her 7 year old silver Beetle. The Wife is a Happy Camper which is the end result. If you are going car buying have fun and you will have to do the dance and the battle for yourself.